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WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN JESUS RETURNS?
For a number of years my family and I lived deep in the wilderness of northernmost British Columbia on the edge of the Yukon Territory. While there I came across one of the most mysterious and fascinating stories I have ever encountered. Strange things have happened in the long winters of the Far North, but nothing more baffling than what occurred at an Eskimo village in 1930.
It all began on a bitterly cold November day when Joe LaBelle, a French-Canadian trapper, decided to pay a visit to his Eskimo friends at Anjikuni Lake, a remote village some 500 miles north of the Mounties' base at Churchill. As Joe approached the village he expected to hear the barking of the sled dogs and the cries and laughter of the children as they ran out to welcome him. Instead, all he heard was the sound of the icy wind and the flapping of the Caribou skins that hung over the doorways of the Eskimos' dwellings. No dogs barked, no wisp of smoke drifted from the chimneys, and no voice broke the ominous silence. Stopping at the edge of the village he yelled a greeting… there was no reply. A similar experience awaited him at the entrance to every hut in the village.
For nearly an hour he searched, looking for some clue as to what might have happened. Inside the huts he found pots of stewed caribou covered with a thick layer of ice; the cooking fires had unquestionably been out for days. Entering one hut LaBelle said, "I saw a half-mended sealskin parka lying on a bunk with two bone needles beside it. Some woman had apparently been working on it and for some reason had walked away and never returned to finish her sewing. On the floor a child's toys were scattered about just as the child had left them.
"I headed towards the banks of the lake, my rifle at the ready because there was something about the place that scared me badly," Joe later told the Mounties. On the beach were three kayaks, including one that belonged to the headman of the village. The harpoons were still aboard, and the half stripped carcass of a walrus was there, just as the hunters had left it. All three of the kayaks had been battered to pieces by the action of the waves. Obviously they'd been left there for quite some time.
Joe asked himself the obvious question--- "Where are the people? It was a very good question, and it remains unanswered to this day. Something had happened at the lake, something mysterious and terrible. Thoroughly spooked by his discovery, Joe contacted the closest base of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police).
It took the Mounties three days to reach the area, and after only a few hours they located the Eskimos' missing sled dogs. They were found tethered about a hundred yards from the village under a massive snow drift. All had died of hunger. Further investigation inside the huts and shelters revealed another extremely puzzling piece of evidence. The prized Winchester rifle was a weapon that no Eskimo in his right mind would ever go on a long trip and leave behind. Yet standing inside each of the huts were the guns, waiting for their owners who never returned.
But beyond a doubt the most baffling discovery of all was found on the opposite end of the village from where the bodies of the dogs had been found. It was there that the Eskimos had buried their dead under the customary cairn of stones. But to the surprise of the Mounties, the graves had been opened, the bodies removed, and the stones carefully stacked in neat piles---and animals could not have stacked the stones!
For two weeks experts were brought in to examine all the conceivable evidence that had been gathered. They concluded that the inhabitants had been gone for about two months. Everything seemed to point to the fact that the Eskimos had been carrying on their normal way of life, when for some strange reason they all rushed out of their huts to see something that had seized their attention …they never went back inside. Which means that in early winter they had suddenly abandoned their clothing, along with the food they'd left on the fires and disappeared into the frozen wasteland without a trace --- leaving behind their sled dogs and rifles that would have given them their only chance of survival!
The best trackers available were unable to find any sign that the villagers had fled on foot, and their battered kayaks and the carcasses of their sled dogs ruled out any travel by those means. Months of far flung investigation failed to turn up one single person who had lived in the village. Eventually the search for the missing village of Anjikuni would be expanded to cover the whole of Canada and the northwestern United States, and would go on for years. But over seventy years later the mystery is no closer to being explained than it was back in the records of the Mounted Police it was filed as unsolved … and so it remains to this day.
When I first came across that story I was immediately struck with wonder at how much it resembled an event that's predicted to take place in the near future … a time when millions are going to vanish from the earth just as they vanished at Anjikuni.
Come now and travel with me back through time some 2000 years to the days when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth. It's morning and we find ourselves standing on the crest of a mountain just outside of old Jerusalem. Before us is gathered a small group of Jesus followers. They're gazing intently toward the heavens, and on every face we see a look of shock and amazement. The reason is plain to see…for there, before their startled eyes, the ascending figure of Jesus is just beginning to disappear into the clouds! And then, as they remain still gaping toward the sky in wonder, a second marvelous thing occurs! Out of nowhere, two angels in shining white raiment suddenly appear, and one of them addresses the small cluster of people, "You men of Galilee…why do you stand here gazing up into the heavens? This same Jesus that you have just seen taken up from you into heaven, is going to return in the same manner you have seen him ascend into heaven."
The scene we've just described is based on the words of the Bible found in the book of Acts, chapter one verses ten and eleven. And ever since the occasion on which that event took place the church of Jesus Christ has been anxiously awaiting his return. Beyond a doubt it's one of the most well known teachings of the Christian faith, and one about which no professing Christian should be ignorant. On a scale of 1-10 how well informed are YOU about that marvelous event? Suppose a reporter from CNN news were to single you out for an interview, based on the fact that you're a believer. And suppose he were to ask you to tell the listening audience several of the things that are predicted to happen when Jesus returns …could you do it?
And… have you ever wondered what it would be like if he were to actually return during YOUR lifetime? What would you see? What would you hear? And what would you personally experience?
The replies that the Bible gives to those questions are indeed bizarre. For instance…one thing that it makes plain is that:
AT THE SOUND OF AN EERIE TRUMPET BLAST MILLIONS OF DEAD BODIES ALL ACROSS THE EARTH ARE GOING TO SUDDENLY COME FORTH FROM THEIR GRAVES!
Such an idea is so far out that it sounds more like a fiction-plot for a novel or TV program, but to quote an old proverb, "truth is sometimes stranger than fiction." In the book of First Thessalonians the fourth chapter we're told that, "We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God!" And then, the bodies of all God's people, from Adam's day down to the present time will rise from their graves." And in John 5:28-29 we're told by Jesus, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth."
There's no mistaking the meaning of those verses. Every believer is an immortal spirit that's taken to Heaven when they die. One day, however, they'll be brought back to this earth, to the very place where their body was buried or destroyed. There each one will be given a changed and glorified body that God has prepared for them. It will be a body of beauty and perfection that can never experience sickness, weakness or death!
What a day that will be! Can you imagine what it'll be like when thousands upon thousands of living, breathing incredibly glorious bodies begin to burst forth from the places of their burial, each being reclaimed by those who once occupied them? Untold thousands of those slain on the blood soaked battlefields of history will arise. The oceans will give up their dead, and from countless tombs, crypts and caves the long forgotten bodies of the dead will be transformed and come forth! No wonder Paul described it as the day when "death is swallowed up in victory!"
Whenever I think of that great day of resurrection, that time when the bodies of the dead return to life I'm reminded of the story about the gravedigger who'd dug a grave so deep that he was unable to climb out of it. Since it was already late in the day, he decided that he'd just lay down and go to sleep, then in the morning, when the rest of the work crew arrived, he'd get them to help him get out. Now it so happened that during that same evening the town drunk had been at the saloon until late, and when it closed down he started for home. On the way, he had to pass the cemetery, but in his inebriated condition he got a little off the path and wandered inside the cemetery gate by mistake. When he discovered where he was he became extremely uncomfortable, and tried his best to find his way back to the entrance.
Not seeing too well, he stumbled and fell into an open grave, which just happened to be the one where the gravedigger was lying fast asleep. When the old drunk hit the bottom of the grave, he saw lying right next to him a body. He immediately assumed that it was a fresh corpse. Letting out a loud scream and leaping to his feet he wildly and frantically began to jump, holler and try to climb out of the hole. But even though he clawed at the walls of the grave until his fingers were bleeding, he couldn't get out. At last, exhausted and shaking, he collapsed at the opposite end of the grave, unable to move. Meanwhile, all the noise had awakened the old gravedigger and as the trembling drunk stared with utter fear at what he thought was a fresh corpse, the gravedigger suddenly sat up and said, "You might as well give up …. there's no way you're going to get outta' here."……..…..but he did.
And one of these days we who know the Lord are going to "get outta here" too … in a glorious resurrection that will once and for all set us free from the chains of death.
SECONDLY, THERE'S GOING TO BE AN INSTANTANEOUS THRILLING TRANSFORMATION OF ALL BELIEVERS.
In First Corinthians 15 we're told that , "Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die."
One of the great, great blessings of the return of Christ is going to be when we receive a new transformed body, a body of beauty and power, a body of renewed youth and perfection! I don't think that most of us have more than a weak picture of what that's going to mean!
When I think about receiving a new body I can't help but recall visiting a home in Jacksonville, Florida some years back. In that home lay a young man in his mid twenties, a handsome fellow, about six feet tall, extremely well built, wavy black hair and an engaging smile. He had been an outstanding student in high school and a star athlete. Everything seemed to be going his way…until his muscular athletic frame was suddenly and unexplainably smitten with an incurable disease. It left him paralyzed for life.
When I visited him he was strapped to a board that was resting on a fulcrum. As he lay there, a motor kept the board rocking up and down, up and down, exactly like a teeter- totter. It was the only thing that kept his lungs functioning. If it were to stop…he would suffocate. We talked, and he tried his best to appear to be cheerful, but I couldn't help but think about the heartbreaking thoughts that must pass through his mind as he lays there hour after hour, day in and day out. At the time I was there he'd already been lying there paralyzed for over seven years. And if he's still alive today, he's undoubtedly still strapped to that same board, staring at those same four walls as his body is being rocked to and fro. There's no way to imagine what it would mean to someone like him to shed that diseased, weak body and receive a glorified body of power and perfection!
I remember the Lepers that I ministered to in India, many with all their fingers missing, their toes gone, their nose merely a sunken hole in their face. I think about a man that I met who was living in seclusion in the swamps along the St. John River. He remained purposely hidden away from society, living in a crude shelter and sleeping on a piece of cardboard. Why? Because he didn't want anyone to see his face. In the war his nose and almost all of his lower jaw had been blown away by a mortar shell. He'd been left with a face that was so disfigured it would frighten you to look at him. Think what it would mean to someone like that to be alive when Jesus returns and the great transformation takes place!
Many of you who read these words have passed the prime years of your life. Your youth is only a thing of the past, something that's now just a memory. Those around you today can't even visualize what you looked like in your youth. But Granddad, think back to that time in your life when you were strong as a young lion, and proud of your lean muscular physique? Those days when you could run like a deer, climb like a mountain goat, and were quick and limber as a cat? You had no need for eyeglasses in those days, because your eyesight was keen and clear. Your hair was thick and dark and the passionate fires of youth flowed in your veins? Do you remember that time in your life?
And you, Grandma … can you recall when you were that trim, shapely young thing? And do you remember how the heads turned when you walked by? In those days there was no wrinkled skin, no freckled gnarled hands, no aching, swollen knuckles and joints… instead you had hands that were slender and supple, with satin smooth skin that was soft as a baby's. The bloom of the rose was in your cheek, and the sparkle of maidenly youth was in your eyes.
You older Christians that know what it is to experiencing aging … does the memory of your younger days stir your heart, and make you yearn once more for that youthful body you used to possess? Well then, REJOICE! Because, thanks to Jesus, you're going to soon experience what it was like to be young and vibrantly healthy. All of what you once were when you were at your very best is going to be yours again … except you'll be far, far better! And when that time comes, you'll think back to this short span of life when age robbed you of what you once were… you'll remember it …and laugh! After all---that body you now occupy, when it was at its best doesn't compare with its going to become on the day of resurrection.
Your present body only exists in a temporary condition of weakness and mortality; it will soon be changed and endowed with health, beauty and powers that will exceed anything you can now imagine!!
You tell me that I'm getting old?
I tell you that's not so;
This house I live in is worn out---
And that of course I know.
It's been in use a long, long while,
It's weathered many a gale;
I'm really not surprised you think
It's getting somewhat frail
The color's changing on the roof,
The windows are getting dim,
The walls a bit transparent,
And looking rather thin.
The foundation's not so steady,
As once it used to be;
My house is getting shaky,
But my house isn't really me.
My few short years can't make me old,
I feel I'm in my youth,
Eternity lies just ahead,
A life of joy and forever, there;
Life will go on so grand!
You tell me that I'm getting old?
You just don't understand.
The dweller in my little "house"
Is young and bright and gay---
Just starting on a life to last
Throughout eternal day.
You only see the outside
Which is all that most folks see,
You tell me I am getting old?
You've mistaken my house for me!
(Dora Johnson)
There's one more thing about the return of Jesus that everyone should be aware of:
JESUS RETURN WILL MEAN THE RESCUE OF HIS PEOPLE FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS WORLD.
According to the Scriptures this old world is on a one way path headed rapidly for destruction. And the picture that the Bible paints of that destruction is not a pretty one. Have you ever wondered exactly what the Scriptures have to say about what the end of the world will be like? Well here are a few of the verses that describe what's going to be occurring as the time for Jesus return grows closer.
"Hear the noise on the mountains. Listen, as the armies march. It is the noise and shout of many nations. The Lord Almighty had brought them here to form an army. They came from countries far away. They are the Lord's weapons; they carry his anger with them and will destroy the whole land. Scream in terror, for the Lord's time has arrived----the time for the Almighty to destroy. Every arm is paralyzed with fear. Even the strongest hearts melt and are afraid. Fear grips them with terrible pangs, like those of a woman about to give birth. They look helplessly at one another as the flames of the burning city reflect on their faces. For see, the day of the Lord is coming---the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be destroyed and all the sinners with it. ‘The heavens will be black above them. No light will shine from stars of sun or moon. I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and the haughtiness of the mighty. Few will be lift alive when I have finished my work. People will be as scarce as gold---more rare than the gold of Ophir. For I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move from its place. I, the Lord Almighty, will show my fury and fierce anger." Isaiah 14
And in the 24th chapter of the same book we read:: "Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. See he is scattering the people over the face of the earth….none will be spared. The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The Lord has spoken…..Throughout earth the story is the same---like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest, only a remnant is left…Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you. The earth has broken down and has utterly collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned, and confused. The earth staggers like a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for it's sins are very great."
And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will perish….But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything in it will be burned (exposed to judgment). Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living! You should look forward to that day and hurry it along, the day when God will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames, .the day when God will set the heavens on fire. " 2 Peter 3
Scripture says, " It is a fearful things to fall into the hands of an angry God!" For millenniums God has stood back while men disobeyed his laws, ignored his existence, and butchered his children. And when God sent his own Son they ridiculed him, spat upon him and finally tortured him to death. And still God did not step in and vent his anger. His patience and love for this human race has been beyond comprehension! But even God's patience and mercy finally will run out, and when it does … God pity the man or woman who's in the pathway of his rage … because all of the pent up fury that's been held back, as if by a mighty dam, suddenly that dam is going to burst and pour forth an avalanche of unstoppable wrath!
Do you ever wonder what it will it be like on that day, a day that the Bible calls "the Day of the Lord"? Here is just a part of what it says will occur.
First of all, it will be preceded by a universal, unmistakable sign. The moon will look as if it has been dipped in blood and the sun will grow completely dark (Joel 2:31). And then the black velvet of the heavens will suddenly be filled with falling stars that streak across the inky blackness! At that time the strange, eerie sound of an ancient trumpet (a shofar) will be heard around the globe and God will begin to shake this old world like a dog shakes a rag! It will be the most horrific earthquake of all time causing the entire planet to reel to and fro, as skyscrapers topple, islands slip beneath the churning seas, and entire mountain ranges are moved! Great cracks will split the earth's surface, opening so wide that whole cities will collapse and drop from sight! The whole earth will be rocked with such force that it will trigger tidal waves that tower a mile in height, the likes of which have never before been seen! These juggernauts of destruction will come racing toward our coastlines smashing, drowning and demolishing everything in their path. And, as if all that were not enough, gigantic hailstones weighing a hundred pounds apiece will then come raining down, hammering the earth and wreaking terrible devastation. The carnage and destruction that this planet will endure will leave raging fires that devour what's left of a once rebellious planet.
The Bible sums it up by saying, "For that will be a time of greater horror than anything the world has ever seen or will see again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, the entire human race will be destroyed." (Mt. 24:21,22)
But thank God, before earth's destruction occurs, God promises to remove his people from this blood spattered, doomed planet! We're told in Scripture that first, the graves will be emptied of believers, and then …. in a split second, millions of God's faithful children will vanish (much like the mysterious disappearance of the village of Anjikuni). They will be caught up to meet Christ in the air! It's described in the Bible in these words:
"And now brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died….For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with these words." (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
What wonderful news to know that no Christian will have to go through that terrible hour. And it's my personal conviction that some who read these very words will be among the ones who'll take part in that magnificent rescue. Just think what that means and what that experience will be like!
"You'll hear the summoning blast of a trumpet and somehow you'll instinctively know that it's meant for you. A mighty shout will come echoing and re-echoing across the earth, and a strange tingling sensation will begin to sweep back and forth across your body! You'll feel as if every molecule and every atom of your body is being cleansed and energized. At that same moment a glowing light will surround your body and instantaneously you'll be whisked away at a blinding speed! As you're hurtling through space you'll become conscious of other shining forms all around you, and they too will be moving with breathtaking swiftness as their outcries of joy and delight fill the air!
All at once you're able to see clearly, and everywhere around you, as far as the eye can see, there are other glorified , transformed believers accompanied by innumerable angels. All are moving toward the same destination …. A brilliant, glowing orb of light pulsating in the distance. As you grow closer to it you hear voices, and the most beautiful music you've ever heard.
Suddenly a loud shout goes up from every throat! A cry of awe and wonder! For there before you, descending in clouds of rainbow colored radiance, stands an indescribable figure! He wears a sparkling gem set crown, and without being told, you know that it's the figure of the one you've loved, served and worshipped for so long! Your faith has at last become sight. KING JESUS REIGNS!" *
*source unknown
WHAT THEN?
When the great business plants of our cities
Have turned out their last finished work:
When the merchants have made their last bargain,
And dismissed every last tired clerk;
When our banks have raked in their last dollar
When the Judge of the Earth says, "Closed for the night!"
When the choir has sung it' last anthem,
And the preacher has prayed his last prayer;
When the people have heard their last sermon,
And the sound has died out on the air;
When the Bible lies closed on the pulpit;
And the pews are all empty of men;
When each one stands facing his record,
And the Great Book is opened---WHAT THEN?
When the actors have played their last drama,
And the comedian has made his last pun;
When the movies have flashed their last picture,
And the billboard displayed its last run;
When the crowds seeking pleasure have vanished,
And have gone into darkness again;
And the world that rejected its Savior
Is asked for a reason---WHAT THEN?
When the bugle's last call sinks in silence,
And the long marching columns stand still:
When the captain has given his last order,
And they've captured the last fort and hill;
When the flag has been hauled from the masthead,
And the wounded afield have checked in;
When the trumpet of ages is sounded
And we stand up before him---WHAT THEN?
Posted by cdrnorth at November 16, 2005 2:32 PM